So, here’s the skinny.
First and foremost, I am not permanently taking away the earned incentives. That would be unjust. But they are taking a very short sabbatical while I figure out how to re-organize the site for a very specific purpose. Now, you may have noticed a few things: the bonus page is missing, the donator page is missing, and there’s a new poll. All of these items are inextricably related. Because all of that content is being moved. Now, I had promised a few things early on that earned incentives would always be available to the viewers ever-after once earned. That promise I will uphold by posting them as fast as I can to my Hentai Foundry page. The incentive earned for January will also be posted there once completed. Hentai Foundry puts up a warning to non-members, but unlike Fur Affinity, you can click it, bypass it, and still see the pages. So, what will we do for future incentives?
Well, that’s where it gets interesting. I am toying with the idea of having bonus PAID incentives and extra comics EVERY MONTH, under a couple conditions. they are: the readers want them (duh) and condition 2 is that we maintain a specific number of “subscribers” in order to make the same goal as “donations”. So that can mean that we let people subscribe for as little as $4.95/month and have access to ALL of the bonuses, current and future, as well as ALL of the donation posters ever made and that ever WILL be made, with no additional effort on their parts. We will partner with either CCBill or Verotel Networks and thus, we cover age verification and Terms of Service coverage in one fell swoop. And that’s where the poll comes in. In order to make GOAL and have new content every month, we MUST HAVE no less than 50 subscribers each month to get new content above and beyond the regular incentive image at that price point. We’d need 25 at $9.95/month, and so on and so forth.
There is one other rub: there is NO WAY that I plan to pay the $750 up-front fee, as well as $500 annually to Visa for taking their cards UNLESS there is so much reader buy-in that we can afford that cost, and still be able to take care of ourselves. We can, however, take all other cards as well as electronic check/debit from your bank account (anyone familiar with these merchant processors for adult sites knows the drill). So, that’s the long and short of things. It’s too risky for me to jeopardize my PayPal account soliciting money for this comic OR Peppermint Saga “under the radar”. The content here varies too much, and the content at my other site is DEFINITELY beyond their acceptable limits.
So, we need your input immediately if not sooner. The reason being that I want to get this all implemented so we can launch the new “subscribers” area by February 1. In the interim, you can still support us by visiting our various gallery pages and commission us, individually. And please act soon to let us know if you like this idea or not. Because if we’re not able to come up with an alternative soon, I may have no choice but to halt production of Ship in a Bottle at the end of “Project: Wacko”. It’s a labor of love, but Nat and I are starving artists, and we need to focus on the projects that in some way keep us off the streets. And I don’t feel I could, in good conscience, ask her to draw this comic completely for free. BEAR IN MIND: NOTHING IS DECIDED YET, SO PLEASE DON’T LEAVE. That’s why we need your input as rapidly as possible.
Thanks for your support, your readership, and hopefully, your continued patronage.
~Mace
Subscriber’s Benefits would include:
-All past present and future donation/subscriber pics/wallpapers
-Speedy access to higher resolution pre-existing bonus comics
-new bonus comics (provided we maintain a pre-determined readership level)
-production sketches (designs from the desk of Mace Paladino & tira-chan!)
-first access to poll incentive pics @ higher resolution
-“first look” at new story arcs
-original scripts (did we play it straight, or did we deviate? I’m a poet, and I know it! OHHH!)
So there’s a metric ton of stuff you’d get that’s never been seen before. So I’d make your $5-10/month extremely worth it.
